You know what I want to hear about right now?

[apocalypsos]

I want to hear about women.

Not fictional women. I want you to tell me about famous women throughout history who kicked fucking ass that you think are awesome.

EDIT: Ooo, ooo! You know who I like? Alice Roosevelt. She didn't take shit from anyone.

Comments

They didn't look like Keira Knightley...

[brigidsblest.livejournal.com]

Anne Bonny and Mary Read.

Selina Cooper

[derryderrydown.livejournal.com]

Selina Cooper worked in a mill in Lancashire and, in 1889, she joined the Cotton Workers’ Union. The majority of the union members were women but it was run by men, who did very little to represent the women’s concerns on things like sexual harassment and toilet facilities. Nonetheless, Selina piled in and did what she could, even going so far as to learn basic medical skills to help workers who couldn’t afford doctors. As well as studying medicine, she followed the precept of the Women’s Co-operative Guild to encourage women to “discuss matters beyond the narrow confines of their domestic lives” by studying politics and history.

In 1892, the Independent Labour Party set up shop in Nelson and, attracted to its claims to support equal rights for women, Selina joined. (It was at the ILP that Selina met her husband, Robert Cooper, a committed socialist and suffragist. He’d been sacked from the Post Office for his political activities and now worked as a weaver. He wasn’t quite as awesome as Selina, because very few people can be, but he was no slouch.)

In 1900, she joined the North of England Society for Women’s Suffrage and organised a petition that was signed by women in the Lancashire cotton mills. Nearly thirty thousand women signed and Selina was chosen to present the petition to the House of Commons.

The following year, the ILP asked Selina to stand for election to the Board of Poor Law Guardians. Despite the local newspapers campaigning against her, Selina became the first working-class woman to be elected to the board. She was outvoted on most issues but did manage to win more freedom for elderly people in the workhouses. She continued to campaign for women’s suffrage and addressed the party conference on the subject in 1905.

Oh, and she still worked at t’mill. Where the middle-class proponents of universal suffrage could afford to do nothing but campaign, Selina and Robert had a family to provide for. She would go straight from working at the mill to addressing NUWSS rallies. Eventually, she was employed full-time as an NUWSS organiser and, in 1910, was chosen to present the case for women’s suffrage to the prime minister.

However, she was never a suffragette. Selina was a suffragist and strongly disapproved of the activities of the Pankhursts and their followers, feeling that rational debate was far more likely to achieve success than smashing shop windows and dying under a racehorse’s hooves.

During the First World War, Selina opposed military conscription and worked to help those men sent to prison for refusing to fight.

After the Qualification of Women Act was passed in 1918, the NUWSS tried to persuade the Labour Party to choose Selina as their candidate in the forthcoming general election but the male-dominated party refused.

However, Selina was elected to the town council and became a magistrate. In the 1930s, she campaigned against the rise of fascism.

“Women do not want their political power to enable them to boast that they are on equal terms with the men. They want to use it for the same purpose as men, to get better conditions… Every women in England is longing for her political freedom in order to make the lot of the worker pleasanter and to bring about reforms which are wanted. We do not want it as a mere plaything.”

[marag.livejournal.com]

Abigail Adams was immensely cool, I think. People claim she was a lot of things she wasn't, but she didn't take any crap from John and she ran a farm and raised the kids while he was off being famous, and she told John that Congress shouldn't forget the women. ::firm nod::

There's a new book out that's made up of letters written by the Founding Mothers and I WANTS IT, YES I DO.

Kate Dickinson

[derryderrydown.livejournal.com]

In 1875, bringing charges of sexual assault was enough to destroy a woman. This was even more the case when the perpetrator was a hero of the Crimea, a respected soldier and a close friend of the Prince of Wales. Nonetheless, Kate did so.

She had been travelling in a first-class carriage when Colonel Valentine Baker attacked her. With no communicating doors between compartments, once Kate had fought him off she had nowhere to go but the outside step of the speeding train. She clung on until the train reached the station, at which point Baker was found with his fly buttons still undone. (And bear in mind that, as a fashionable young lady of 1875, she would have been wearing something like this.)

There’s no denying that Kate had the privilege of her position and her family’s support, especially that of her lawyer brother. A few years earlier, a Miss Miller had been raped in a third class carriage and the perpetrator charged only with being drunk on a train and having annoyed a passenger, for which he was fined £6. Had Kate been poor, she would probably have been bribed into silence.

As it was, she stood her ground and Baker was eventually sentenced to a year in prison and a fine of £500. He was also dismissed from the Army.

That wasn’t the end of it for Kate, however. The debate as to whether Baker should have been excused a few ‘peccadilloes’ on account of his exemplary Army career raged for years, with the Prince of Wales coming down firmly on Baker’s side. Even a decade later, music hall songs were supportive of Baker and, although he was never reinstated in the Army, he was buried with full military honours.

However, the case brought the issue of men’s sexual licence into the public eye and aided future prosecutions. We don’t know what happened to Kate afterwards but to have the courage to bring charges in that situation is totally awesome.

[impertinence.livejournal.com]

LISE MEITNER. Einstein discovered the equation, but she's the one who figured out how to make it work.

[scriptchick.livejournal.com]

Hands down...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudicca

[handyhunter.livejournal.com]

Olympe de Gouges for rewriting the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen: Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen + Social Contract between men and women.

[allegraconbrio.livejournal.com]

The women I love have kicked ass, and also are a bit vulnerable.

I think Hillary Clinton is awesome. She fucked up her campaign royally, but I still admire her a lot. I really hope she becomes sort of like the next Ted Kennedy. I think her heart is genuine and she really got off track. She is too smart to not be involved anymore. (unpopular opinions for 500, Alex)

I also really like Paula Dean. What? She cooks southern food and she looks beautiful while doing it and she is just funny and sensible as all get out. I heart her.

Mary Seacole

[derryderrydown.livejournal.com]

Mary was born in Jamaica, the daughter of a free black woman and a Scottish Army officer. She grew up in her mother’s boarding house, surrounded by soldiers and sailors, and, at the age of thirty, married Edwin Seacole. (Who, incidentally, was a godson of Admiral Nelson.) Unfortunately, eight years later, Edwin died and Mary was left to wander the world for a bit.

She soon got to hear about conditions in the Crimea and Florence Nightingale’s work there. Having learned a lot about nursing from her mother, Mary approached the recruiting offices and tried to volunteer. She was rejected four times, despite glowing references from high-ranking military officers, before she decided to strike out on her own.

She was approaching fifty when she set off for Turkey and, with her own money, established the British Hotel. Here, she provided food, shelter and care to soldiers. Whereas Nightingale’s hospitals were several days away, Mary would go right into the battlefields to provide first aid. The Times and Punch both reported her exploits and she became as famous as Nightingale.

Mary poured all her money into caring for the soldiers and the end of the Crimean War found her bankrupt. In recognition of her work, supporters including the Prince of Wales began fundraising for her, and she was able to end her life in London in some comfort.

[grlnamedlucifer.livejournal.com]

Damn, you took mine. Abigail Adams is my favorite person in history because she was just that awesome.

Well, to add another awesome female from history, Grace O'Malley, another female pirate and supporter of Irish rebellion who famously met with Queen Elizabeth.

[kleenexwoman.livejournal.com]

Alexandra Kollontai. I'm reading her autobiography and some of her works right now. She was a top-level official in the Communist party (and the first woman to be placed in a top-level governmental position that wasn't hereditary), an integral part of the Russian Revolution, the first female ambassador, and an advocate for economic and social equality of the sexes.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I could tell you about Dorothy Parker for HOURS. An amazing poet and civil rights activist who once described her own husband as "queer as a billy goat" and was the bread-winner for both of them. I adore her.

I also love Lady Emma Hamilton, because she was born a blacksmith's daughter and got to a position of serious clout (ending up as Nelson's lover) by, basically, giving the sex she offered, unlike most of the woman of her age were trained to do. She even worked occasionally as a prostitute and aide to a medical fraud, and was, by all accounts, "immensely fat and spoke with a broad Lancashire accent".

Rosa Parks (like I need to explain why!). Elizabeth I of England who managed to not only damage control after the reign of her lunatic father and mental sister, but also to great and expand an empire, win wars, and secure the support and faith of her people all without ever having to tie herself to a husband FIVE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. Ada Lovelace, programmer. Anne Bonny and Mary Read, motherfucking PIRATES. There's Amy Johnson (pilot), Amelia Earheart (pilot), and spanning a few eras of current history I'd also say Sandi Toksvig, Tove Jansson, Indira Ghandi, and the late Benazir Bhutto. I think Eleanor Roosevelt was kind of awesome too.

There are a number of female explorers and anthropologists I've heard referenced but cannot remember the names of (if anyone else remembers some could they tell me?), and, frankly, my Grandmother and great-grandmother, who were both awesome in their own ways.

Re: They didn't look like Keira Knightley...

[semy-of-pearls.livejournal.com]

Then you might enjoy this:

http://www.elfhill.com/lyricSearch.cgi?name=red.queen&album=ComeAway

[greenet.livejournal.com]

Queen Margrete of Denmark-Norway. United most of Scandinavia and ruled it. More information here.

[semy-of-pearls.livejournal.com]

Yay! Nobody got to mine!

Eleanor of Aquitane. If you've ever seen The Lion in Winter, Katherine Hepburn plays the part beautifully. This was a woman of power that led armies to crusade, managed some of the riches lands in all of Europe and still managed to hold the power of England despite her husband locking her in a tower.

[elbiesee.livejournal.com]

Irena Sendler, who helped save more lives during World War Two than that Schindler fella. Even went to jail, where she was beaten, tortured, and sentenced to death (before being rescued by friends when they bribed a guard) for her acts.

She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize a couple years back, but came second to some guy named Al Gore.

Plus, look at her picture there... Beautiful woman, and you can tell she had an awesome sense of humor deep within.

Re: They didn't look like Keira Knightley...

[brigidsblest.livejournal.com]

Yup, I have that song sung by the group Annwn. Love it!

[etoilepb.livejournal.com]

When I was in first grade, I kept taking the biography of Deborah Sampson out of the library over and over.

[brigidsblest.livejournal.com]

Also, Nellie Bly. I first read about her when I was 12 and wanted to be an investigative reporter well into my college years.

Re: They didn't look like Keira Knightley...

[etoilepb.livejournal.com]

They're always my favorites too.

*glances over at the large pile of books on pirate and colonial history in the corner*

Er, I might be biased though. ;)

[etoilepb.livejournal.com]

Mmm, yes. Nellie Bly and Jessica Mitford (and this time I shall close my tags properly) were my favorite parts of the journalism degree I ended up not getting. (Became a history major instead.)

[seferin.livejournal.com]

Sojourner Truth
Susan B. Anthony
Rosa Parks
Irene Morgan Kirkaldy
Victoria Woodhull
Carrie Chapman Catt
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Jeannette Rankin
Frances Perkins
Margaret Madeline Chase
Patsy Matsu Takemoto Mink
Shirley Anita St. Hill
Sandra Day
Carol Elizabeth Moseley Braun
Madeleine Albright

[hannahrorlove.livejournal.com]

Wilma Mankiller, first female Chief of the Cherokee nation.

Margaret Sanger, early birth control advocate.

Cheryl Haworth, quite possibly the strongest woman in the country. While I'm at it, all these female athletes.

Eleanor of Aquitaine

[anonymous_sibyl]

During her lifetime Eleanor was Duchess of Aquitaine and Countess of Poitou in her own right, Queen of France and then of England, she bore nine children, two of them who ruled as kings, and others who married into and throughout the royal families of Europe. She’s been described as “…the loveliest, the richest, the most fascinating, the most notorious, and most talked-about woman of the age” even though no physical description of her survives and there are many gaps in her historical record.

Her upbringing was unconventional in that “unlike most of her contemporaries, male and especially female, she was carefully educated.” According to some sources, in addition to reading and writing in her own language, Eleanor could read, write, and most likely speak Latin, was well versed in the art of the gai saber and quite possibly had a working knowledge of Aristotelian logic as shown from some of her letters.

Queens of England were traditionally regalis imperii participes, sharers in the kingship. After her experiences in France, Eleanor can only have been pleased by this. “She shared in its administration, issuing official documents either in her own right or on behalf of the king.” Some chroniclers say that in the king’s absences from England, the real ruler was the justiciar, but while “some of the bills she issued were drawn up in the name of the queen and the justiciar…; others, however, bore her name alone.”

Throughout her life, Eleanor ruled as a Duchess, Countess and Queen of two lands. She orchestrated a large-scale rebellion against the King of England that was nearly successful. She ruled as regent in all but name for her son Richard and after his death helped another of her sons, John, take the throne. The woman whose name was a Latin pun, Alia Aénor, meaning “another Aénor” was certainly anything but.

(Snippets from a paper on Eleanor--and thus I explain my pomposity. She was awesome. Srsly.)

[earis.livejournal.com]

The Peabody Sisters.

Particularly Elizabeth Peabody. She was basically the organizer for the Massachusetts Transcendentalist movement, brought kindergarten to the United States, and instituted a tradition of teaching small children foreign languages by making them read and speak those languages.

Also, never got married. Ever.